Allen West
Allen West was the one term Republican Representative for the 22nd Congressional District of Florida from 2010 to 2012. Rightist rhetoric that included McCarthyite hysteria doomed his Congressional career. To win his Congressional seat in 2010 against Democratic candidate Ron Klein, West had to raise $4 million. In the 2012 election cycle, he defeated Robert Crowder to win the Republican nomination for the 18th Congressional District but lost the general eelction to ocratic candidate Patrick Murphy 166,799 to 164,370. Extremist One of West's first decisions as a freshman Member of the U.S. House was to hire and then un-hire controversial hate radio host Joyce Kaufman as his chief of staff. Not very decisive for a former Army Lt. Colonel. West expressed an undemocratic tolerance for disagreement. During a January 28, 2012 rant at a Lincoln Day event he verbally expelled Democratic leaders: "We need to let President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and my dear friend the chairman of the Democrat National Committee, we need to let them know that Florida ain't on the table." He added, "Take your message of equality of achievement, take your message of economic dependency, take your message of enslaving the entrepreneurial will and spirit of the American people somewhere else. You can take it to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it to the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States of America." West subsequently tried to weasel out of his own words by pleading "context." Postmodern conservatism at its best. West presented himself as a man of political absolutes. "I hate big-tent," he informed the neo-conservative Weekly Standard. "I hate inclusiveness. And I hate outreach. I think you stand on the principles that make you great, which transcend everybody in America, and people will come to it." For a politician who embraces so many contradictory positions, that posturing is hard to credit. Although West claims to revere the U.S. Constitution, for example, he perps himself as a A self-described "right wing extremist," and flirts with treason when he uses the language of insurrection against the national government. Calling for armed insurrection after saying how much you respect the U.S. Constitution is like beating your wife after telling her how much you love her. See Keith Olberman's take on irresponsible violent imagery. West also expressed multiple nationalisms. He is both an American hyper-patriot and a hard core Zionist. The adoring Fox News profile notes that he said that President Barack Obama's administration, "has shown an unprecedented disregard for the sovereignty of the State of Israel." Does that mean he would sacrifice American interests for the sake of the Jewish state? Just where do his real loyalties lie? Then there is his strangely fluid social class background. West was born on February 7, 1961 in Atlanta, Georgia. That much seems true. But he has variously described himself as lower middle class and as "growing up in the inner city." Sounding like a mysogenist from the early 20th century, West vented about DNC Chair and Representative for a neighboring House district Debbie Wasserman Schultz. "I don't think how she carries herself – gentleman, gentlelady -- she is not that way when you think about some of the things that she has said in the position that she's in as the DNC chair and also as the congressional representative." Allen West Unloads On Debbie Wasserman Schultz Again Huffington Post. September 29, 2011. His Republican colleagues in the House may have feared their African-American colleague. In late December 2011 they refused to reprimand him for comparing the U.S. Democratic Party with the Nazi Party of the Third Reich. West is quoted as saying that, "If Joseph Goebbels was around, he'd be very proud of the Democrat Party because they have an incredible propaganda machine." Plagiarist Apparently the norm against plagiarism is not one of West's absolutes. Media Matters discovered that he lifted material from six paragraphs from a story previously posted on sites like Yahoo! Answers, Free Republic, Facebook, etc. for a column criticizing the Obama administration for ignoring the deaths of law enforcement officers. Not so populist in office, just another conservative In late April 2011 the Tea Party favorite was willing to take only written questions from the people attendimg his "town meetings." Hecklers were removed by security. :: Meet the new boss :: Same as the old boss The pattern continued in May when his town hall meetings tended to degenerate into shouting matches, with unhappy constituents being removed by police. See Also * Why Allen West Lost: 16 Of His Worst Moments In Congress Nov. 7, 2012. * Allen West Endorses Stimulus-Funded Government Industries To ‘Turn Around’ The Economy * Rep. West Accuses Florida Democrats of 'Nefarious Actions' in Early Voting Geneva Sands. The Hill. November 5, 2012 Sources * Florida's 22nd District Profile Links * Fascism